Xsara Picasso Cutting Out - Main Relay

[wayne.wep@gmail.com]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a Xsara Picasso 1.8 16v petrol.  Within the last 18months it has had a new key, a new throttle body and now I am having cutting out problems again.  I have been told by Citroen that it may be the egr valve.  What are the symptoms of a faulty egr on a petrol engine?  I have had experience with them on the diesels but not on petrol vehicles.

 

The vehicle will drive perfectly, sometimes for up to 60km's then suddenly will cut out.  The engine management light comes on and it slows down to a stop.  I have a diagnostic and drove with it connected until this happened.  My initial thought was crank sensor but when it wont start the crank sensor reads the 200-odd rpm during cranking.

 

It immediately comes up with an arms length of faults:

canister bleed electrovalve control - open circuit

Ignition coil 1 control No spark (also same for other 3 cylinders)

Injector control 1 Open Circuit or Short Circuit to- (also same for other 3 cylinders)

Upstream oxygen sensor heating control

Downstream oxygen sensor heating control

Exhaust gas recycling (EGR) regulation

Air pump relay control Open circuit

 

I suspected the inertia switch and replaced it but no luck.  I very much doubt that all of these circuits can fail at the same time so am looking for a common relay or other power source that may be giving this very intermittent fault.

 

If anyone has had any similar issues, your help would be greatly appreciated!  Pulling my hair out with a vehicle that I love but good feeling is going!  :(

 

[paul.h]

It could possibly be a crank sensor or a cam sensor. These do not cost much so may be worth changing anyway just to discount them. Are things like spark plugs up to date on servicing ?

[wayne.wep@gmail.com]

I eventually traced the problem- if I follow wiring diagrams to find the power source for all of the items which gave faults when it cut out, it led me to the main relay which is next to the ecm.  I ordered a new one from the agents and no more problems! for once it was a time consuming head scratcher and not a huge expense!

[paul.h]

Thankyou for getting back to us with the fix which was not an easy or usual one to solve. I have slightly altered the title to help when searching.